Kirobo The First Companion Robot In Space (Guinness)
According to the Guinness World Record books, Kirobo is the first Companion robot in space.
(Kirobo in space!)
A robot that acts as a friend for lonely astronauts in space has today been honoured with two Guinness World Records titles.
Kirobo, a small android able to have conversations in Japanese, has set records for First Companion Robot in Space and Highest altitude for a robot to have a conversation following an 18-month stay onboard the International Space Station.
Measuring 34 cm tall and weighing 1 kg, Kirobo can recognise faces, and has a sophisticated voice recognition system.
Able to stabilise itself in zero-gravity conditions, its onboard voice synthesis coupled with a library of pre-set gestures and an advanced language processing system allows it to speak in an uncannily natural manner.
One of the project’s main aims was to test if a robot could provide psychological support to a human subject experiencing severe loneliness - such as an astronaut during an extended stay in space - by acting as their conversational partner.
I hasten to add that Kirobo is not the first companion robot in fiction...
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